On page 150 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes, relative to the healing work of Christian Science, "Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical healing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demonstrate its divine origin,—to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world." Religion has always recognized its duty to keep its followers unstained from sinful indulgence, but only through the same spiritual understanding which heals disease can the divine power be realized by which sin is really destroyed, not merely suppressed. If carried to its ultimate depths, sin would in time destroy itself, for the sinner who goes all the way with sin eventually reaches the conclusion which forms the basis for its healing in Christian Science, namely, that sin is merely a diabolical illusion, an unreal siren luring mankind with the promise of satisfaction which cannot be gained from matter. The Bible declares that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" and cannot "look on iniquity;" hence the conclusion is inescapable that, since evil cannot be known by omniscient God, who cognizes all that He made, it can have only a supposititious existence, whether the evil be sin, disease, or death.

But one may say, Yes, I see the logic of the reasoning, but it is rather poor comfort when temptation is clamoring for admission to my consciousness—when I am straining every mental power I possess to stave off the desire to indulge in appetites and passions. Very true, replies Christian Science, which would not be truly Christian if it merely enunciated the fact of the unreality of sin, and then passed by on the other side. But, if the sinner accepts this basic teaching of the unreality of sin, he will find in time that he is actually able to prove the illusive nature of that by which he has been duped into the belief that there is pleasure in the senses; that matter can enjoy or suffer independently of mortal mind, the supposititious opposite of the Mind that is God.

In the absolute sense, man can have no longings, since his heavenly Father supplies all that he possesses. In the real man, to be is to have. In the perfect relationship between God and man in His image, the only real desire or purpose must be that of the creator, a purpose which is wholly good. Genesis tells of this purpose of Deity, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion." Later on we read that God saw all that He had made and was satisfied with His work. Hence, man as God knows him can reflect only this completely satisfied and holy desire of his Maker; it is only mortal man that can seem to have unholy, unsatisfied desires which look to matter for fulfillment.

On the first page of the textbook referred to above, its author writes, "Desire is prayer." There is no qualification, no equivocation here: Desire is prayer. True desire is true prayer to the true God, "who forgiveth all thine iniquities." False desire is false prayer to false gods. Then, the sinner needs first of all to see that false desire is merely the false sense of right desire, or prayer to God. Sinful appetite is the inverted image of Soul-full satisfaction. Or again, there would be no shadow of a tree upon the surface of a lake if there were no tree on its bank to cast the shadow. And the longer the shadow, the higher the tree which produces it. The more depraved the sin, the holier must be the reality of that which the sin counterfeits. If the sinner would only analyze his thought to determine his true desire, he would find that it is not necessary to fight the evil with the weapons of so-called human will, but merely to take the stand that he refuses to accept the false sense of desire on the same ground that he would decline to accept a counterfeit bill tendered by a trickster.

One student of Christian Science, long a smoker of cigarettes, acquired his freedom in just a few days when he stopped to analyze the thought which preceded his desire to smoke. He found that this desire came when he felt the necessity for something to stimulate his ordinary capacity as an executive, when he desired rest or relaxation, and when he desired to enjoy to a fuller extent friendly association with companions. Reducing these to their primary elements, he concluded that what he truly desired was inspiration, relaxation, and companionship. There could be nothing wrong in his desire for these states of thought; but, oh, how he had been deceived by the belief that inspiration came through inhaling tobacco smoke, that relaxation could possibly come through matter, or that companionship could be harmonious when attended by that which leads only into bondage!

Resolved to be no longer a slave to such evident absurdity, the student thereafter met each suggestion to smoke with the recognition that true desire for inspiration is capable of satisfaction only through Love, that relaxation has its source alone in Spirit, and that happiness is inherent only in Soul. There was no great struggle, no use of human will, only the calm recognition that the truth about the situation would make free, if he but fortified this truth by loving devotion to its underlying Principle. He was merely being obedient to the injunction of him who said, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." He understood that, as a child of God, he already had the fullest joy which the loving Father-Mother could impart, that he was never weary as God's idea and therefore never really needed any relaxation, and that the inspiration and unfoldment which belong to man in God's likeness transcend all human comprehension. Such is the nature of man as God knows him. This true man is absolutely pure, holy, perfect, and good, incapable of sin, lack, or inharmony of any kind. He has no need of salvation, for in God's universe there is nothing which needs to be saved; all is perfect even as its creator is perfect. To know man in this light is to have the Christ-consciousness whereby the manifestation of freedom from all error is attained. Upon this man, Love already pours out its infinite bounty and goodness; hence he has no unsatisfied longings or desires.

The servant of wrong desire who learns the lessons of Christian Science approaches his problem with joy, not reluctance. He learns that to pray aright is to affirm what is true of man as God made him, and to deny the false claims of all that is unlike this true image. He becomes aware that he needs only to know intelligently how to take advantage of the truth, which, like Moses' rod, is not the serpent which mortal mind presents, but the means of establishing his Godgiven dominion. The illustrious Phillips Brooks once said, "Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance, but taking hold of God's willingness." Christian Science teaches its adherents how to work with God, even in regard to the healing of false desire. The recognition of the fact that in this work God is with him, not against him, begins at once to free the disciple from the harassing fear that he is somehow outside the pale of God's influence. Far from it; God is never so near to one as when he is fighting to establish in his thinking the fact of God's kingdom—the kingdom of good—God's will already being done "in earth, as it is in heaven." When Moses took the serpent by the tail, handled the error of suggestion in one of its worst aspects, his reward was the restoration of his authority over evil's false claims.

Looking at the problem of sin in this calm manner, one realizes that he can overcome his fear of false habits and indulgences as he carefully analyzes what he really desires when he prays. In every case the student will find that there is really a beautiful spiritual state of divine consciousness which he properly longs to attain. If he realizes that the means of attainment is through the understanding that man, as God knows him, already possesses that state of being, he will recognize in the experience the opportunity to bring that heavenly state to human consciousness. One cannot but be encouraged when he remembers that even the author of Christianity, Christ Jesus himself, "was in all points tempted like as we are." To be tempted is not sin; for the record goes on to state of Jesus that even though he was tempted, yet was he found without sin: he refused to accept false sense in place of the real.

Let us, then, joyfully measure up to the opportunity inherent in every experience, buoyed up by the words of Paul: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." This "way to escape" is beautifully indicated in the words of a hymn: